Why Sydney has always loved Cabaret

What Cabaret Actually Is (In Plain English)

Cabaret is a style of live performance built around intimacy, personality, and direct audience connection. It’s not one specific art form — it’s a format.

What defines cabaret is the relationship between the performer, the room, and the audience. It also implies some use of singing and dancing. Think Liza Minnelli in the film "Cabaret".

Unlike straight-up theatre, cabaret consistently breaks the fourth wall. Performers interact and look at the audience to create an experience that is highly intimate, unreplaceable and alive with the moment. 

For these reasons, it's typically performed in small rooms, up close and personal with the audience. 

• Cabaret can include:
• music or live vocals
• comedy
• dance
• storytelling
• characters or satire
• burlesque
• circus

Cabaret vs Burlesque—What’s the Difference?

These two get grouped together constantly, but they aren’t interchangeable.

Cabaret

Cabaret is the umbrella. It’s the broader world of intimate, multi-disciplinary performance. Burlesque may be a form of cabaret, but not all cabaret is a form of burlesque!

Burlesque

Burlesque is a specific art form that can live inside a cabaret show — or stand alone.

Burlesque is theatrical striptease, but not in a literal or straightforward way.  It uses:

• satire or parody
  
• character work
• narrative concepts
• dance and movement
• mime
  artistry and theatrics

 Burlesque isn’t just about nudity — it’s about storytelling, comedy and the performance journey.

In its modern form, burlesque also contains an intrinsic theme of history, whether that be an ode to vintage fashion and ideals of glamour or the theatrically potent rejection of vintage aesthetics to emphasise modernity. Either way, there is an awareness or playing with the context of time and pop culture. 

It has also be said (by Scarlett Furi) that burlesque is sexy clowning. 

Burlesque vs Striptease—Why They’re Not the Same

This is the single biggest point of confusion for audiences. While they may overlap, they are distinct art forms. 

Striptease

The aim and defining feature of striptease is to arouse or to be erotic in nature. 
Its purpose is sensuality, not narrative. It’s not usually comedic, satirical, or character-based (though it can be). Striptease or "stripping' may be deemed be classy or sleazy depending on the performer and your point of view.

Burlesque

Burlesque uses striptease as one element in a theatrical performance. However, it is much more than just "classy" or vintage striptease. The aim of burlesque is often humour, satire or parody. In fact, the word "burlesque" comes from the Italian word "burlesco" which means to exaggerate. Often, a burlesque act aims to make fun of sexuality and sensuality itself. 

In burlesque, the journey to the reveal is part of a story. It may always be the end, but it is not the point.

Why These Terms Get Mixed Up

People constantly confuse cabaret, burlesque, and striptease. Some potential reasons why are:

• Marketing: Venues (especially exotic dance ones) sometimes use these words loosely and interchangeably 
• Prejudice: The media often mislabels burlesque as striptease to put it down
  
• Modern culture commercialised and simplified burlesque into “sexy dancing”
• Difficulty Defining: Cabaret and even Burlesque have such a wide range that it’s hard to define without getting esoteric.
  
• Historical lens: The vintage style art-of-tease we know as burlesque was at one point synonymous with striptease, back before it was vintage!
  
• Kings Cross historically blurred the lines between nightlife, risqué themes and theatre

Cabaret in Sydney Today

Sydney’s cabaret identity was shaped by Kings Cross: small rooms, bold performers, glamour, mischief, satire, and an audience willing to be part of the action.

Modern Sydney cabaret blends:

• immersive dinner experiences
• contemporary burlesque
• comedy
• music
• character work
• theatrical storytelling

Today's audiences want something intimate, surprising, and unfiltered — the opposite of large theatre productions. Some may say cabaret has resurfaced. We say it never left, and is at home as ever in the eclectic, experience-driven culture that has returned to the Cross.

The Honeycomb Club—Sydney Cabaret on the Golden Mile

The Honeycomb Club continues the legacy of close-up, intimate performance in Kings Cross—but with a fresh and modern twist.

Our dinner shows combine:

• cabaret-style storytelling
• contemporary burlesque acts
• live performers who interact with the room
• humour, glamour, choreography, and theatricality
• an intimate supper-club atmosphere

Let us be clear: We’re not trying to recreate “the old Kings Cross.”

We’re continuing its legacy, and contributing to the next chapter of Sydney cabaret— combining comedy, sensuality, skill and hospitality in a unified experience, driven by an authentically unique artistic perspective. 

If you’re curious about what modern cabaret feels like in Sydney, the Honeycomb Club is where you’ll feel it most.